Lucy, I’m coming for you.

Twenty-One

The moment Shea opened the portal and we all stepped inside, a somber mood came over our crew. There were a few demons milling about where we crossed, and we ended their life quickly without issue.

Our plan was to follow the directions under Demon City, where I’d come through Mathias’s apartment when I escaped, and that would lead us to Lucy’s castle. We estimated it was about a two-hour walk for those on foot, and the longer our large group stayed in Hell, the greater the chance that word would get to Lucifer. I was half hoping he would come right to me—I knew his ego was big enough—but he also might see all four archangels and go into hiding. It was a risk we had to take.

Since Lincoln, the archangels, and I could fly, we would. Michael estimated once we took flight, it would be only about twenty minutes before we were at the gates of Lucifer’s castle.

We passed a few spectral ghost forms, which I knew were tortured souls. Upon seeing us, they hid behind the straw huts that dotted the land.

“Being here is…” Lincoln swallowed hard, trying to find the words.

“Incredible,” Michael offered, staring at his own arm band. The technology Metatron had given them, making it possible for them to come down here with me, it was incredible.

“That’s one way of describing it.” Lincoln looked at a smoking pile of trash, and two Snakeroot demons fighting over a half-eaten apple and shook his head.

Once we’d walked a few minutes, we spun around to face the army and my jaw dropped. Four armored buses, over a dozen SUVs, and rows and rows of Fallen Army soldiers stood with us. The last of the portal was closing us all in, together.

Michael flapped his wings and shot up into the air, hovering over the crowd. “Today we fight for freedom! We fight to end a war over fifteen years in the making.” He couldn’t even finish his sentence before the army went wild. Michael placed a fist across his chest. “May you all find peace in your heart, and keep it there always. It’s been a pleasure to lead this army and my greatest life’s work.”

The silence spread out through the crowd until Raphael kicked up dust, flying straight up to be by Michael’s side.

“Each and every citizen of Angel City owes you a debt of gratitude. You are the real angels, and it’s been a pleasure to be a part of your education at the academy.”

When the massive army did one big salute to the two archangels in the sky, I thought I might cry. Whether I wanted to admit it or not, we were all saying goodbye.

“Shall we?” Lincoln looked over at me. Uriel and Gabriel had taken flight as well. It was our turn now.

I nodded.

Lincoln and I flapped our wings and rose above the army, taking one last look at them before flying right into Lucifer’s den.

“Brielle, lead the way,” Michael encouraged me.

With the busloads of Fallen Army soldiers making their way to the front to follow us, I set off in the direction I prayed Lucifer’s castle was. The air turned smoky, and I knew visibility was going to shit after only a few minutes of flying. The sharp scent of sulfur burned my nose as smoke mingled with the air.

“Is something burning?” Michael called over the wind.

“It’s Hell!” I shouted back. “Something’s always burning!”

Raphael flipped over and pumped his wings so he was facing us, suspended in mid-air. “Let’s ride on the roof of the buses until visibility clears. We could be flying into a trap or going the wrong way.”

At his words, the hair on my arms stood up on end. He was right—this was war, and we could totally be flying into a trap. The second we’d entered, one of the demons could have seen us and flown ahead to bring word to Lucifer.

Lowering ourselves, we landed on one of the armored vehicles. Standing on a moving bus, and not falling over, was harder than you’d think—even with wings. The top hatch popped open after a few moments, and Noah peeked his head out, probably to make sure it was us and not some flying demons.

“Oh, good. I was—” His words were cut off when the bus slammed on its breaks and his head disappeared as he was thrown into the bus. All of us who were topside lurched forward, but quickly pumped our wings, taking to the sky to keep from becoming roadkill.

Looking out onto the road to see why we’d stopped, my jaw popped open at the sight of hundreds of skeleton horses with glowing green eyes.

New demons.

Oh, Lucy, you’ve been busy.

Atop some of the skelehorses were Castor demons. I’d barely had time to register that this was a full-scale army, when an energy burst slammed into me from the side, knocking me to the ground, and spraying sand all over my face. Turning my head to follow the direction of the attack, I saw a grinning Castor demon not ten feet from me, building another wave-like energy burst in his hands.

Effortlessly, I pulled my shield over myself and jumped to my feet, extending it to Lincoln who stood beside me, sword drawn. He’d flown down to the ground the second I’d been thrown off the bus.

“How far back is our army?” I shouted, trying to crane my head to look behind us.

“We’ll have to hold them off until they get here,” Lincoln answered through gritted teeth.

I realized he didn’t know any more than I did. Walking on foot was much slower than riding or flying, but they couldn’t be too far behind. I hoped.

The busses’ doors opened, and Fallen Army soldiers poured out onto the cracked red earth, to fight by our side. Yet, our small numbers were nothing against this fleet of horses.

“Anyone know what special powers the horses have?” I asked nervously.

Michael and the other archangels were watching the advancing evil soldiers warily. It looked like we were about to discover these demon’s new power together.

“What’s it doing?” Lincoln pointed, while staring wide-eyed at the nearest skelly.

Its eyes were really glowing green, like way more than before.

“I don’t know, but I’m going to kill it,” Michael declared, taking one step in the direction of the bug-eyed skeleton horse. One second Michael was standing there, and the next, the skelly’s eyes had… exploded. A hot lava-like substance shot from its eyes and tried to spray all over Michael, but he blasted into the air to avoid it. We all stumbled backward as I tightened the shield protecting Lincoln and myself. The lava shot across the front of the bus, and the metal and rubber tires melted right before my eyes, in a stinking mass of molten iron.

Oh shit. This was the stuff of nightmares.

We were way out of our league here. The Dark Lord had known we were coming, and he’d built a freaking lava-spewing army to protect him.

‘Oh, hell no. These anorexic horses aren’t going to stop us.’ Sera pulsed at my hip.

I’d forgotten she was there. Hell, I’d forgotten what it was like to fight with her, so used to doing it by myself ever since she was taken.

Pulling her out, I thinned my shield in one spot at the front.

‘Watch this,’ she boasted. A thin laser beam of light shot from the tip of Sera’s blade, and cut into the horse nearest us. Where her beam of light hit, the horse lost a limb—technically a bone stump, since it didn’t have flesh.